It doesnâ€™t matter to me who qualifies for nationals. I do think you should earn an allocation for your conference and then earn your spot on the mat. Itâ€™s my opinion we should do away with wild cards. You want a spot then place high enough at your qualifying event. Otherwise you didnâ€™t earn a spot at NCAAâ€™s.
I say this as a wrestler who â€œearnedâ€ a wild card while competing.

Is Darian Cruz more talented than Thomas Gillman?
Bo Jordan is an elite wrestler. One piece of wrestling that a lot of people tend to miss is the ability to not give up points. Some of these wrestlers are not flashy but they win. I would put Kyle Dake in this category while in college. David Taylor scored a lot more points and was more offensively varied so most people thought well he is more talented. However, the results did not bear that out.

I made the list. I remember losing to him and throwing temper tantrum. I was a bit of a brawler and he majored me and I didn't even feel like I'd wrestled a match. I was a sophomore and I told my coach I couldn't believe I lost to a freshman. My coach told me that, that freshman is pretty good.

I posted this in another thread but I thought I'd start a new topic since it is slightly off topic for that thread.
Most will agree that Sanderson is the GOAT. However, if there were no Pendleton would Ben Askren be the GOAT?

I disagree with the assumption that an undefeated wrestler is always better than a wrestler with a few losses. I also would not always say a 3x NCAA Champion is better than a 2x NCAA Champion. More credentialed, yes. Not necessarily a better wrestler.

I think the bye is a good thing, but agree that it should be given to world medalist only. The bye is there to protect the wrestler from an upset before the finals. Imagine a situation in which Snyder does not get a bye, he wrestles in the mini tournament and first round someone throws a beautiful headlock and pins him. Over and done with. In theory, one of our best wrestlers does not make the team because in one match a wrestler executed a great technique.

IMO. This is why the sport will not elevate above what it is now. People are fans of individuals. When those individuals leave they look elsewhere. Again, IMO, we need to create fans of programs. I'm a Mizzou alumni so I root for the tigers unless one of the wrestlers I coached are on a different team. To me,this is why duals are so important. Take an average joe to a dual meet and have them cheer on a program. In the "major sports" people follow the program not an individual. Sorry if this takes the thread off topic.